Barney is...

Barney is a dinosaur that has invaded our house over spring break. The last few days Jayden has stopped what he is doing to watch Barney. I personally am not a fan of the purple dinosaur because the songs he sings get stuck in my head all day, but I do like what the program teaches. Today Jayden was sitting on the floor watching TV and the next thing I knew he was nice and cozy next to the couch. It was pretty cute. Of course, I had to take a picture. As soon as the flash went off he turned to look and see what was going on. After Barney he enjoyed a nice nap!

Jayden and Henry

Last Thursday night Aaron took Jayden over to see his friend Henry and watch basketball while I attended open house at my school. I stole this picture off of Sarah's blog of the boys "playing" while the big boys watched basketball. Henry is not too much younger than Jayden and has really sprouted up this past month. It is going to be fun to watch these two grow up!

Playing with Payton

Yesterday Jayden and I went to Springfield to visit Brittany and Payton and see their new house. We loved their new house and Jayden loved playing with all of Payton's toys, especially the little baseball. Payton showed us all around her new house--it was so cute!!

Before we left, Payton gave Jayden a good bye hug. We will see Payton in a few days when they come to Taylorville to visit. I am sure we will be seeing more of Payton this summer and her new little sister!

Jayden visits Layne

On Monday, Jayden and I went over to visit Meredith and baby Layne. Jayden was so good while we were there. He sat on the couch and looked at the baby. Soon enough these two will be running around playing! Cathy and Paula from work also came over to meet baby Layne. Cathy snapped this picture of Jayden while he was looking through Layne's Easter book. I just love the look of curiosity he has. Thanks, Cathy for the great pictures!

Reading with Daddy

I ordered Jayden a new book Me and My Dad from the most recent book order at school. They enjoyed reading it the other night.

Jayden just couldn't keep his eye off of me when I snapped pictures of them reading. I thought this one was especially funny!

Messy Baby

Today Jayden has not really been himself. He took a 3 hour nap and woke with a slight fever. After eating lunch, he went back to sleep for another hour. I think this may be the start of teeth. I cannot see or feel any yet, but they may be on the way. Hopefully his fever is from teeth and nothing more.

Jayden wanted to feed himself lunch today as well. I let him try it a couple of times before taking over. Today is also Uncle Adam's 25th birthday. Happy Birthday, Uncle Adam. We can't wait to see you this summer!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Jayden's Grandpa Chuck celebrated his birthday today. We joined them for dinner at Angelo's. March sure has been a busy month for birthdays! Before we left, Jayden was working on standing. Here he is waving bye-bye.

Jayden also gummed on a cracker at dinner. He only had it for a few minutes before I had to take it away because it makes me too nervous. I will feel a lot better about real food once he gets teeth!

8 months old

Jayden is 8 months old today. He spent the day with Nanny and Poppa today. He was a very good boy and took a 2 hour nap.
Here are his monthly updates:

1. He weighs 17 lbs 6 oz and I believe he is between 27.5-28" long. I will measure tomorrow. He now is sitting in a big boy car seat facing backwards. We still use his baby seat on occasion.
2. He is wearing between 9 months and 12 month clothing. The 12 month seems to fit better. We are no longer buying size 3 diapers and have moved on to size 4. He has to wear overnight diapers too. His new Nike's are fitting a lot better as well. They are a size 5 and he loves them!
3. He isn't crawling yet, but he is scooting, rolling, and getting to where he needs to go. Crawling will be anytime now.
4. He still drives in his little car and I would say it is his favorite toy. He can go anywhere he wants to go in the car and he is really fast now. He will chase you to the door if you come over to visit!
5. He is back to taking Avent bottles. They are so much easier to use than Playtex. I still send the Playtex bottles to the babysitters because if he is really grouchy, he won't use the Avent bottle. He is still nursing, but it is getting less as time progresses. I am more ready to give it up than he is. He loves his momma and daddy too!
6. He has had his variety of food this month. Baby mac n' cheese and squash are new favorites. He also like baby yogurt and mixed fruit rice cereal. I let him gum on a real cracker last week, but other than that no "real" food is in his future yet.
7. No teeth. They will come. We are not the least bit worried.
8. His hair is growing in thicker as well as his nails growing like crazy. He loves his bath time and has a new baby seat for the bath. It is perfect!
9. He is still sleeping in his own bed almost every night. Only when he is sick or has a really bad day of no eating does he get to snuggle in bed with us. This past weekend when we were in Mt. Carmel he had the luxury of sleeping in bed with me as I didn't want to wake anyone in the middle of the night with crying. He did start in the crib though! I am now waking him up to leave in the mornings rather than him waking on his own.
10. He has mastered waving bye-bye. That was the goal for the month! It is really cute. He loves to laugh, dance, spit, read, count, and play with his toys. Where is Jayden is a favorite game of his as well as listening to his CD in the car. He is 100% boy!!!
11. He can say "mama", "baba", and "ggggg". We will be working on "dada" this month.
12. Once again, we are so lucky and blessed to have Jayden in our lives. He lights up the room where ever he goes!

Baby Layne is here!!

Meredith and Patrick welcomed their baby boy, Layne, into the world on Friday, March 19th. We had a chance to go meet the newest member of our Taylorville crew tonight. He is so little, perfect, and handsome. He weighed 8 lbs 7 oz., when he was born, so not much smaller than Jayden. It is hard to believe that Jayden was that size only 8 months ago! We are so happy for our friends. I can't wait for Jayden and his little buddy to hang out. It is going to be so much fun watching them grow up together!

Of course, while we were there, Jayden was all smiles. He was happy to meet his friend and see Meredith and Patrick again. Congrats again Meredith and Patrick!!

Weekend in Mt. Carmel

This weekend we traveled down to Mt. Carmel. Jayden was such a good boy all weekend. He went to cousin Julie's shower on Saturday and visited with family on Sunday. He danced, rolled over, waved bye-bye, made noises, knocked over blocks and did everything he wanted to do. I even got to enjoy a few naps with Jayden, which was really nice. He also played outside for the very first time! It was a beautiful day! He was so happy to have his car out on the driveway. Just as fast as his Nana would push him to one end of the driveway, he would be back at the other.

Mia also made it along for the trip. I am not sure there are going to be many more trips with Mia, but she had a great time too. She loves running and swimming while she visits.

Hopefully we will be able to make it to Mt. Carmel more once I am done with school. It is simply just too hard to travel and have school work. Thank goodness for Spring Break!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Today I took Jayden to the doctor for a quick evaluation. He has been tugging at his ears and not sleeping/eating very well. We were lucky to hear that his ears are perfect and he doesn't have the start of any teeth. We just have to keep an eye on him for the next few days and call if anything changes. He weighed in at a whopping 17 lbs, 6 oz. It is reassuring to know that he is not getting sick, but perhaps off due to the time change and busy schedule we have been living the past few weeks. Hopefully soon our schedule will slow down a bit and Jayden can get back to eating and sleeping like he should!

Since Jayden was a good boy at the doctor he picked out a new toy. He really likes his stacking toy as it plays music to him each time a new ring is added.

Aaron's Birthday

Today is Aaron's 27th Birthday!! Jayden and I had a mini birthday party for him when he returned home from work. Jayden picked out his own card for Daddy and signed it himself. After opening presents, Jayden was tired so he took a snooze in his car seat.

We enjoyed birthday cake, dinner, a nice walk, and finally a movie! I am pretty sure Aaron had a great birthday. This weekend we will head down to Mt. Carmel for Julie's wedding shower and to celebrate Aaron's birthday once again.

Jayden's Chicken

Jayden's Nana got him an Easter chicken that sings and dances. On Friday night when we turned on the dancing chicken, Jayden chased it down in his little car. He pushed it across the kitchen. It was so funny!

Aaron's Bday Dinner

For Aaron's birthday, we headed to Texas Road House in Springfield. When we left town we called to place our name. The wait time for 10 was over 2 hrs. We decided to keep our names in and call a few other places. Aaron really wanted to eat at Texas Road House, so we ended up going there. After much convincing or flirting (I am not sure which), Aaron managed to get us in an hour early. He also was able to ride the saddle like a cowboy. I am sure that was one of the biggest highlights of his night. Aaron is a cowboy at heart!

Yee haw!!

Happy Birthday!!

Maybe it was the luck of the Irish that we got in early. Can you see the smiley face in the drink? We had a great night with great friends!

We were guest #513 and the little red sign in the back was seating table #433. Aaron was pretty happy with his ability to get our table early--as were the rest of us!

Computer Time

Jayden loves to help me with my homework. I guess there is something pretty cool about computers when you are 7 months old!

He thought it was funny too!

He really gets into watching the computer screen.

Jumper

Jayden was going a little crazy today in his jumper. After jumping like crazy for a while, I decided to capture a few of his jumps on video.

TROUBLE

It is time to baby proof at our house. Jayden is on the loose and looking for trouble. He loves to open drawers and cabinet doors. He is always under supervision and rarely has the opportunity to mess with the cabinets. I would hate for him to smash his fingers! I did capture a picture of him trying to cause trouble. So happy!!

Jayden and his new favorite drawer. There isn't much in this drawer so it isn't very heavy.

Here comes trouble........at least he is cute trouble!

Uppercase Living

Here is the new Uppercase Living design that has been added to our wall. At first, I was so sure about having our name so large in the house, but it has grown on us. I have a few more to hang in Jayden's playroom. Hopefully, I will be able to complete this task in the next few weeks!

Jayden with the new design. He likes it too!

Lessons from Maddie

Madeline came over to visit Jayden on Sunday for a few hours last weekend. While she was over, she read him some books to teach him about colors. Jayden really was into the book!

A Visit with Nana and PawPaw

On Saturday, Jayden had a nice visit with his Nana and PawPaw. We met for dinner in Effingham at TGIFriday's. The food was awesome! Jayden was a very good boy and showed off most of his little tricks. He was dancing in his high chair when they arrived. We will be heading to Mt. Carmel in a few weekend and I am sure Jayden will be more than happy to show off for everyone!

We also stopped at Kohl's after dinner. Jayden had his first ride in a wheel chair with his Grandpa (who wanted to take a seat--shopping isn't his favorite). It was pretty funny and Jayden enjoyed the ride!

Ouch!

On Thursday morning when I was getting ready to leave for school I slammed my finger in the car door. It was very painful and is still swollen. On Friday afternoon I went to Urgent Care and had my finger drained and I also received a tetanus shot. Hopefully, my fingernail will be back to normal by summer!

J's New Seat

Jayden is the proud owner of a new carseat! He loves to ride in his new seat and look out the window. He still has to face backwards until he is 1 year old and 20 lbs. There is no doubt in my mind that he will be 20 lbs by his first birthday!

Jayden LOVES Books!

Jayden loves his books! After reading, he generally enjoys flipping through the pages. Here he is looking through his book Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do You See? Hopefully he will continue his love for books. I am sure his Great Grandma Acree would love to sit and read with him!

Jayden's Doctor Appointment

Jayden went to the doctor today for his 6 month checkup. He weighs 17 lbs and is 27 inches long. His weight is in the 50% percentile while his height is in the 60% percentile. He received his second dose of the roto vaccine. He doesn't need to go back until April. Dr. Murray reminded us that he will be on the move soon, so we should start to baby proof our house. It looks like we have a lot of work to do in the next few weeks as Jayden is really starting to move. We can start trying the meats of the baby food. Turkey was very unsuccessful tonight. We will try again next week.

Girl's Day

On Saturday we scheduled a girl's day. Kristy, Meredith, Sarah and I headed to Springfield for some much needed friend time and to treat Meredith before the little man arrives. We stopped at China Towne and painted some pottery. Merdith made a turtle for Baby H. It was a bit stressful during the painting process. Good thing we had the expert Sarah with us to give us some pointers. After painting, we headed to lunch and then off to Babies R' Us for some shopping. Meredith only has a few more weeks to go, so she picked up some last minute things for Baby H.

After girl's day was over, it turned into girls night! We had dinner with the boys and then decided that we needed to head out on the town. The boys played cards while Jayden and Henry slept. It was really to have a girls day. I am looking forward to our next one!